Latin America Struggles

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Latin America struggles
The differences that exist between America and the Latin America today can be traced back to the colonial era. In a quest to beat the Indians the founding fathers in America sought to give everyone the right to own land as far as they were cultivating it and making proper use of the land. In a rush the Europeans hid to this call and came in the thousands to claim land that was previously owned by the Indians. As Indians were killed in their thousands, their land was repossessed by foreigners mainly of European decent. With time and using their exploration techniques, the Europeans came further south to the Latin American lands (Galeano, 89). Relative to the richness in natural resources and the civilization level of the people, they took advantage of the society and authority structures.
They acquired large chunks of land where were involved an array of activities among them farming, mining and herding. Using their influence they exploited the natural resources and repatriated the same to their countries such Spain and Germany leaving the Latin nations poorer. At the time slaves were the main source of labor and therefore other than the natural resources, they also exploited the human resources. Today, the Latin American states are still trying to heal from the scars that the Europeans inflicted on their nations well-being relative natural resources, human resources and capital. In their wake, the Europeans dealt a devastating blow in these economies which till today are still struggling under their influence (Galeano, 3).
Question 1
America and Europe have become the thorny issue in the development in Latin American states relative to their history in exploiting the resources and leaving the countries in ruins. "Northeast Brazil's sugar and Argentina's quebracho belts, and communities around oil-rich Lake Maracaibo, have become painfully aware of the mortality of wealth which nature bestows and imperialism appropriates" (Galeano, pg.3 ). This is an indication of exploitative the imperialists have been to the Latin American states as they enrich their nations and leave the Latin American citizens in poverty. One of the best examples of how the European nations took advantage of the Latin American states is that of Peru and Spain. Slaves brought in from Africa and some of the locals would be used in the cacao plantations, in the mines, urban estates and in herding the large herds of cattle. The proceeds would then be exported to Spain where they would enrich the European state at the expense of the Peruvian population and their natural resources. "The fortunes made in Venezuela from growing cacao— begun at the end of the sixteenth century and produced by applying whips to the backs of black slaves— were invested in new plantations, other commercial crops, in mines, urban real estate, slaves, and herds of cattle" (Galeano, pg. 31).
One other example of the exploitation that the European nations exerted on the Latin American states is in relation to Potosi and the silver and gold rush that was associated with it. The rush to exploit the silver and gold reserves left in its wake death and destruction of the potosians society. "Through the centuries the wealth has been drained from the 5,000 tunnels the Spaniards bored into the Cerro Rico"(Galeano,pg. 33). Millions of people died in the slavery that saw thousands of kilograms exported to Europe especially countries such as Spain. The mines left the state in sorry state and most of the feature defaced as they searched for the craved mineral. The devastation left behind by the Spaniards is a horrific reminder of an era that destroyed the lives of the people in Latin America in name of exploiting their natural resources. What’s more is the fact that, the exploit was not with consent of the people, but through manipulation and inhuman acts of slavery and indignation of the people. Much of what the Spaniards left behind were the tin reserves, which in some of the recent times has turned into a profitable mineral, to a point that some of the houses walls were being sold for their richness in tin ore.
The main problem other than the fact that the Europeans were exploiting the natural resources in the Latin American states was that they did nothing to uplift the lives of the citizens. As such, they only took advantage of the natural resources and left the nations with nothing to rebuild their desolate lands and their barren open fields, which would not have any value as part of agricultural land. Other than that, the stripping of the land surfaces also meant that most of the land was left scarred with the large gapping quarri...